I'm still alive

Hey friends!

I survived April. And this was the result:

And I got to celebrate with these lovely people:

Then I went to New York, which was heaven. That deserves it's own picturey-post soon.

I have had such mixed feelings with moving on with life after getting a Bachelor's degree. Change is always scary, but always ends up being for the better, doesn't it? I am so, so, so grateful to have gotten the chance to finish school. I think most women who get married at the age of 20 don't get that luxury. I did, thanks to so many people. Especially my sweet parents. Anyone who knows my parents know that they are probably the coolest people on the planet. Truly. Alex and I both agree that our life goal is to be exactly like my parents (or as close as we can get to it). They have helped me so much along the way. I will be thanking them for all of eternity for all they have done for me and my own family unit.

I'm glad that I went through the graduation experience. I attended commencement as well as my specific graduation. I got to do it with my friends, as well as listen to amazing, inspiring speakers. In case you didn't know, a graduation in the arts is the best. Totally. I graduated with Dance and Music majors. There were beautiful performances. It was by far the most entertaining graduation ceremony I have ever been too. It was fun sitting my friends too.

Thinking back on my education, I wish I would have enjoyed it more. Granted, I loved college - most of the time - but I wish I would have enjoyed the hard parts more. I don't regret any decisions I made during college, though. Thinking back on the 18 year old Natalie fresh out a high school, I am such a different woman now. I am a wife, a performer, a teacher, and (hopefully) a better friend and member of the church. I am so grateful for everything I have been blessed with over the last four years.

I have been given countless blessings countless time, and I can not thank my Heavenly Father enough for it. And thank you, significant people in my life, for all of your love and support. I finished. I really did. Who would have thought. :)

xoxo

Nat

Jimmer Fever

I know it's kind of silly, but I am loving watching BYU basketball and getting swept up in Jimmer fever. Did you know that Jimmer was in my freshmen ward? Well he was. Not that we ever really talked :) But, GO BYU! I love watching basketball.

Tonight I am going to Divine Comedy and sitting in the audience for the first time. Ever. I am excited and nervous about how it will make me feel. But mainly, I am just excited.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! My awesome Dad (aka Randy T) was in town last weekend, so a post with pictures is soon to come :)

Love you all!

xo
Nat

The Testing Center can't even handle me right now

Although my official Divine Comedy days are behind me, Alex and I got to do something awesome with them yesterday. For a music video they are working on, they needed a large crowd to come and turn the testing center into a club. That's right, we had a dance party. In the testing center. Where tests are taken. It was so, so fun, and an experience I will tell my kids about when they're at BYU.

In further news, here's a picture update of our December. Sorry it takes me so long to update this thing! I'll be better. I promise.

They had a nice little goodbye moment for me in the middle of the last show. Tears were inevitable.

Weirdos.



These lovely people cam into town for my last show. (Well, it was just Mom and Josh who came in to town.)



We had the chance to go to the Christmas Devotional. So awesome,

We took a stroll around temple square. It was gorgeous, as always.

The weekend before finals I hosted a DC girls sleepover. Tons of fun, and very little sleep. :)



Then, after finals, we headed to MN! We spent a lot of time with these awesome people.



Played in the snow. A lot.

The Jazz where playing Minnesota while we were there, so I got Alex tickets for his anniversary gift!
It was tons of fun!

We got to Skype wiht Ty on Christmas!

Did a lot of laying around and watching Thr Grinch. :)

Merry Christmas! :)

 

And lots of puzzling.

My camera died on Christmas, but we also celebrated Alex's birthday and had a really fun New Year's party.

 

It was a blast, and now we're back to reality. Darn. :)

Hope you're all doing well, and are enjoying your three day weekend :)

Update

Look how cute Alex is in his new blog. Alex is a missionary all the way. I love how mindful he is of the gospel all of the time. It's pretty obvious why I love him :)


Before I get started, here's a really great zucchini bread recipe I used the other day. Yum.

Zucchini Bread

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup grated unpeeled zucchini ( I just chopped some up and put it in the blender)
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips ( if you want. By why wouldn't you want?)
• 
  
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour,  salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.
• 
  
• Spoon into a greased 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

• 
  

Things have been getting busy around here. I'll start from recently, and make my way backwards :)


Last night was opening night for Tuesday's with Morrie. Matt from DC is in it and is FANTASTIC. I've been assigned to work as a Stage Hang/Assistant Stage Manager for the show, so I've been going to rehearsals for a while now. Opening night went well, and now I have shows for the next little while. See ya in a month, honey :(.

My dad came is for a short visit this past weekend, to help move my grandparents move back to SLC. He flew in Friday night. We saw him Saturday for lunch - the morning was filled with Alpine Days festivities. Of course, I left my camera, but Alex and Tim ran in the 5k, and then we went to the Fireman's breakfast as per tradition. I'll get pics from Jodie later. I saw Julie B. Beck and got totally star struck. (Alex's) Mom offered to introduce me, but I was too nervous! I just love her! :)


Anywho, my dad came into town to help my grandparents move back to SLC. They are back where the used to live -- in the prophet's ward right by Temple Square! Alex was such a trooper and helped lift heavy things, while I put things away. Cousin Cody was with the men, too, and it was so fun to see him. When we weren't moving boxes and hanging up artwork, we got to spend some time with Dad. He even stayed with us one night, which was so fun. :) I am so grateful for the Dad that I have. He is such an amazing man, and I love getting to see him when he visits! We also visited Trissy and Sam, two of my favorite people. It was a great weekend! I only took one picture while Dad was here. He left all too soon, catching a flight back Sunday so he could be at work on Monday. Seriously, what an amazing man!

When Dad was here, we walked around temple square, went to 

Music and the Spoken Word, and explored around 

downtown for a while. It was so fun!

Brigham Young's grave in downtown SLC.

Speaking of Trissy and Sam, here's an old video on my camera of Neve/Nora playing ring around the rosy. Too cute!

I've been gearing up for my new job! We had teacher training all last week. I will still be working as a secretary on campus, and taking a full load of classes, and doing Divine Comedy one more semester. It will be so fun, and so exhausting. :) But, I feel very blessed to be able to do everything.


 TOMORROW if meet the teacher day! I must say, I'm a little nervous! I'll let you know how it goes. I'm so excited to meet these little one that I'll be able to teach. I'll have 12 3 year olds. Keep me in your prayers! ;)


Alex starts school next week too, and he's already getting into the zone. Because I've had rehearsals/performances so often lately, he's been going to the library and reading his textbooks he'll be using this Fall. What a guy. :) He really is the best.


Two weekend ago was the DC Alumni Show. Man, was that fun! TONS of my dearest friends from my first year in DC came back, and we did a bunch of my favorites. As always, it was crazy preparing for it. Some cast members didn't get there until about 12 on Saturday, and we had two shows at 7 and 9. We totally sold out -- we had to turn people away! Whit did an amazing, amazing job of putting the whole thing together. Since it sold out, it got HOT in that auditorium. August show + 400 people per show + us dancing around in hot costumes = gross. It really was such a fun show, though. We got to spend some quality time with everyone the next day on Sunday, and that was wonderful.

Marriott School Musical. I bet it's really hard to tell who is what character. ;) 

High School Musical finale dance! :)

 I think we cracked everytime. Someday, Brian, someday...

...and then the camera died. So we didn't get any Latter-day Miserable pictures. I'll get the group picture from Jodie soon, too! :)




And of course, I've still been working at the good ol' Math Department. We're gearing up for Fall to start, so it's been really busy. I've been writing this blog post here and there for a while whenever I've had some free time at work. 


Alex is still working at the Dental Lab and still loves it. We're both excited for school to start, but sad to see the summer end. It's been such a fun, relaxed summer just enjoying each other. Highlights for me have been evening bike rides followed by popsicles. And, of course, NC. Only two more years until the next one...


Now you're updated! Hope all is well -- and good luck with the start of school, everyone!


Love you all,


Natalex

Monk Reunion 2010

We had the chance to go to a reunion for my Mom's family -- we do it every other summer. It's totally heaven!

We took a red-eye flight to get there -- here's the view as we were landing in the JFK airport. It was actually kind of fun!

The view from our room :)

Our first night there :)

My cute parents!

This is how Nora looked most of the time!

Thomas siblings :)

The whole family! :)

Thomas girls

Cute Neve

Tommy Boy :)

Our movie this year was Pirates!

Nice tan line, eh? :)

Then we got stuck in Chicago -- they put us up in a hotel, it was actually really fun! We had an extra day of vacation.

We can't wait to go back, and we miss all our Monk family members! :)

P.S.: Here's a picture of the Cilantro Lime Quesadillas I made a while ago

Yum! :)